Congregation Beth Ha-Sholom, 425 Center Street, Williamsport PA

Congregation Beth Ha-Sholom
Williamsport's Temple for Reform Judaism
425 Center Street
Williamsport PA 17701
(570) 323-7751

About Congregation Beth Ha-Sholom

Congregation Beth Ha-Sholom is the Reform Jewish temple serving Williamsport PA and vicinity. Established in 1866, Congregation Beth Ha-Sholom is believed to be the oldest surviving Jewish institution in Central Pennsylvania. We are a small community of just 46 families, served by a visiting student Rabbi assigned by the Hebrew Union College in New York City. Because of our size, we do not enjoy the luxury of a paid staff, and depend upon the volunteer efforts of our members to keep Reform Jewish life vital in Williamsport.

Revised Congregation Bylaws in Portable Document Format (PDF)
Unanimously adopted by the Congregation at its Annual Meeting, 13 September 2009

Listen to Jewish History in Pennsylvania, produced by Cynthia Berger. This radio series is a production of WPSU-FM (Penn State Public Broadcasting), used here by permission.

The Oldest Jewish Congregation in Central PA (broadcast date 16 January 2008 - featuring Congregation Beth HaSholom)
Thoroughly Modern Women (broadcast date 23 January 2008)
The Aaronsburg Story (broadcast date 9 January 2008)

Facility

	Our present house of worship, located on the Northwest corner of Edwin and Center Streets, includes a brick sanctuary dedicated on September 3, 1904, and two major additions, a school and social hall, constructed in 1923 and 1961, respectively. The congregation's previous facility at Mulberry and Front Streets, built in 1871, had been destroyed by flooding in 1901.
	The most recent improvement to our temple building is total restoration of our spectacular stained glass windows, accomplished by Lindi Haefner in 2010 through 2012.

Affiliation

Beth Ha-Sholom is affiliated with the Union of Reform Judaism (URJ). We hold Shabbat services on Friday nights at 7:30 PM, twice a month throughout the school year. We also have an active Sunday School, and mid-week Hebrew Language classes. Our schedule of upcoming services is listed in the Events section of this website. You may contact our Officers and Committee Chairs using the email links provided. We hope you will be joining us for an upcoming Shabbat service.

Accessibility

Athough achieving accessibility is a major challenge for a century-old building, Congregation Beth Ha-Shalom is making strides, with the addition in 2006 of an ADA-compliant wheelchair and walker ramp into our Social Hall from the West parking lot. Via the Social Hall entrance, congregants with mobility challenges can easily gain access to the Temple library, kitchen, and classrooms. Additional accessibility modifications, to facilitate access to our Sanctuary, are currently being studied.

Additional information about the early history of Congregation Beth Ha-Sholom can be found in the two-part article "Ninety-Five Years of Beth Ha-Sholom," written by Benjamin Hirsh in 1961, later published in the Journal of the Lycoming County Historical Society, and available for download here in Portable Document Format (PDF):

Part One, Volume XII Number One, Spring 1976
Part Two, Volume XII Number Two, Fall 1976

Additional historical documents in Portable Document Format (PDF):

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